TOWER - Theatre of Work Enabling Relationships

In a co-located team, members typically learn from a wide range of cues about the activities of the other members, about the progress in the common task and about subtle changes in group structures and the organization of the shared task environment. Most of this group awareness is achieved without specific effort. A distributed team — even if its cooperation is based on a state-of-the-art groupware system — today is far from a similar level of awareness and opportunity for spontaneous, informal communication. This reduces the effectiveness of the joint effort, and makes cooperation a less satisfying experience for the team members. The TOWER system1 aims to bring the wealth of clues and information that create awareness and cohesion in co-located teams to the world of virtual teams and to present them in a Theatre of Work.